


In Other Worlds

by LapisLazuli13



Series: For My Little Cinnamon Rolls (mostly about Nico di Angelo) [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awesome Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, I don't really care about romantic pairings, I focus on friendships here, Let's Meet At The Witch Assembly, Nico is an adorable little cinnamon roll, Other, Platonic Love, Platonic Soulmates, Reyna and Nico's friendship is golden, Small child!Nico, Witch!Reyna
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-05 17:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14624013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LapisLazuli13/pseuds/LapisLazuli13
Summary: This is another series about Reyna and Nico’s friendship, but in Alternative Universe(s). I’ll try different kinds of AUs here, and each chapter isn’t necessarily related to other chapters.





	1. They think we’re a couple (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College AU, where Reyna’s a sophomore and Nico’s the brilliant kid in the freshman year. They’re so close and Nico only lets Reyna touch him casually without asking for permission first like ruffling his hair, poking his cheeks or hugging him. Everybody comes to the conclusion that they’re dating.

##  _**1, They think we’re a couple (1)** _

**_College AU, where Reyna’s a sophomore and Nico’s the brilliant kid in the freshman year. They’re so close and Nico only lets Reyna touch him casually without asking for permission first like ruffling his hair, poking his cheeks or hugging him. Everybody comes to the conclusion that they’re dating._ **

…

“So…” Piper’s voice was stretched into a long, thin line when she sat down next to Reyna with a glass of milk in her hand. “Have you heard the latest rumour?”

“Which one?” The other girl casually replied, didn’t take her eyes off from the notebook she was writing in. Her face was wearing its normal façade: an emotionless, stoic expression that nobody can read anything on that because nothing’s on display.

“There’s a new kid in the freshman year.”

“Freshmen  _are_ new kids, Piper.” Reyna sighed, even though she had a suspicion where would this conversation go to.

“Duh,” the Cherokee girl just rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass. “Don’t I know that. I mean, there are some kids that get popular pretty quickly.”

“I don’t really care about our school’s gossips these days,” Reyna shrugged when she put down her pen. “What do you want to say?”

“I won’t beat around the bush anymore,” Piper chewed her bottom lip. “Are you dating one of them?”

The quizzical look on Reyna’s face before she let out a laugh and stood up only made Piper feel more confused.

“I don’t get it. Your answer is yes or no?” She asked, but the other girl already left with her notebook. Piper sighed dramatically. Fine, she’ll try another way to get the information she wanted.

…

“Wow, the freshman year has some cool kids!” Percy exclaimed when he sat down at the lunch table inside canteen. Jason tried to not notice the unnatural blue shade of his food. Where did he get blue food coloring at school anyway? “I just met one in Archery Club and he beat all the juniors, can you believe it?”

“I think I know who is he,” Jason thought for a while. “Does he volunteer for the school infirmary too? Blond hair, blue eyes?”

“Speaking about that, I think he looks similar to you,” Percy scratched the back of his head. “Typical American jocks.”

“I’m not a jock.”

“You’re the football team captain, a straight-A student, and last year’s prom king,” Percy snorted in disapproval. “Do you really think I’ll believe you?”

“Normally school jocks don’t hang out with goth kids and nerds,” Jason shrugged before gulping down his orange juice. “Dozens of my friends are one type of those or both.”

“Both? You make me think about the scary smartass that made Mr. Chiron speechless the first time during his lecture just two days ago. Did you hear the story?”

“He’s brilliant,” Jason smiled. “Man, I really want to witness that scene instead of just listen to people talking about it.”

“But wait, are you two friends?” Percy’s eyebrows shot up in a surprised expression. To reply to him, Jason just grinned mischievously.

“Not really, but I know how to get him open up to me,” the blond winked at a confusing Percy while standing up. “Watch me.”

Ten seconds after Jason left, Percy decided whatever the blond’s up to still wasn’t enough to waste his precious time with his blue food.

…

“Do you know the kid at the corner?” A brunet asked his friend.

The girl looked around the room for some seconds before she shrugged. “Not really. I know his name is Nico di Angelo, but that’s all.”

“He seems cool,” the boy commented. “And brilliant. I love the way he stood up bravely and debated with professor Chiron two days ago. Man, if only I could have that courage.”

“Courage to ask him out?” The girl teased, amusement was dancing in her eyes.

“To talk to him first,” the boy breathed out. “If I could ask him out after that, it’ll be a certain bonus.”

“Don’t touch me!” The boy in their topic suddenly shouted, and both of the students looked at him. He was glaring angrily at another male student and they gathered quite an audience.

“What? I only grabbed your wrist a little bit,” the male chuckled. “You’re not a virgin with the belief that whenever a boy touches you, you’ll get pregnant, right?”

Some people laughed at that, but their laugh quickly died out when they received an icy stare from the black-haired boy.

“You’re not allowed to touch me without asking for my permission,” Nico growled at the other. “Now back off.”

“What if I don’t?” The male student crossed his arms over his chest, a smug smile appeared on his face. “Don’t be such a prude. I can touch whatever I want to and you’re nobody to tell me what am I allowed to do.”

With that statement, the man leaned down and grabbed Nico’s chin, quite violently forcing him to look at his cocky smile. “Hmm, you’re prettier when looking closer. And you’re fierce. Definitely my type.”

“Let go of me.” Nico hissed angrily and pushed the man’s hand away, but he grabbed his wrist and pinned it onto the wall behind his back.

“Be a good boy, and I promise I won’t hurt yo–… ARRGG!”

The man yelled in pain and collapsed on the floor. Nico looked at him with disdain, before raising his head up and pouted. “I could handle this myself, Reyna.”

“Doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate a helping hand,” the girl hummed quietly, a smile was dancing on her lips. “Or in this case, a helping fist is more accurate.”

“You’re always right,” Nico grinned at her before looking back at the pained man. “So this time I punched you in the eye and Reyna gave you one more in the guts. I hope that could make it clear to you about the fact that I don’t like people touching me.”

“You bitc–…” the man opened his mouth to curse, but when Reyna pierced through him with her icy, deadly stare, he immediately shut up and begrudgingly stood up. “Don’t think I will forget that easily, di Angelo.”

The boy didn’t bother to glance at the defeated man this time. “Reyna, what are you doing here? I think you have a class on the 2nd floor.”

“Checking up on you,” she chuckled. “Seems like you’re doing quite a good job in attracting trouble.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask for that!” Nico protested. “He suddenly showed up and he’s annoying as hell. He deserved those punches.”

“Alright, kiddo,” Reyna extended her arm to ruffle his hair. To everyone’s surprise, Nico didn’t flinch when her hand touched him. “But you’re right, I have a class. Better gotta go.”

“See you later.” He nodded at her and stood up to kiss her cheek. Reyna beamed at this and kissed him back before happily left the room, ignoring all the suspicious and bewildered looks that the others gave her.

Nico ignored them as well, much for their sake.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take prompts, but I only focus on friendships and platonic love here. If you have prompts for other romantic pairings, please check out my other works.
> 
> By the way, the second part of this story is the [5th shot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14624013/chapters/34636590) in this series.


	2. Don’t you dare flirt with my sister!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At a bar, a man’s trying to court Reyna and when he starts to be so annoying, Nico can’t take it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And also, a lot of crazy things happened in this chapter. Please don't judge me.

##  _**2, Don’t you dare flirt with my sister!** _

**_At a bar, a man’s trying to court Reyna and when he starts to be so annoying, Nico can’t take it anymore._ **

…

Percy’s idea of going to a bar to celebrate Jason’s birthday was horribly stupid. But again, Percy’s famous for terrible planning skills, so nobody was too surprised when things started to escalate from one point, and it’s not like everything was great afterward.

Firstly, Leo set a stranger on fire. Literally.

To defend his honor (which didn’t really exist anymore at this moment), Leo said that it was supposed to be just a harmless prank. He made a _flaming lamborghini_ for the man because he demanded and the bartender said it was quite dangerous so the bar didn’t provide that. But the man started to get angry and he shouted so loud that the poor bartender didn’t know how to react, and Leo offered his help.

It was obvious that Leo didn’t like the man – fair point, because nobody did – but that’s still not the right reason for him to deliberately forget that the drink was made with fire. So when the drunken man shakily accepted his cocktail, it’s no surprise that he spilled it out all over his clothes and the fire just didn’t stop.

The fire alarm nearly went off, but thankfully Annabeth found a bucket filled with water and she poured it on the man.

And that was the second disaster of the night because the content inside that bucket wasn’t only water. To describe honestly, it was a gross mixture of wasted alcohol, dirty water from some rags to clean tables, and the grotesque final ingredient was vomit from someone that can’t hold their drink inside their stomach.

The man left the bar angrier and more irritated than he was before, but at least he’s already gone and he seemed too drunk to actually remember their faces, so at least they could be certain that they wouldn’t get sued for all the mess they made.

But if only their night would continue with only those two incidents, everybody could be really grateful.

…

The third bad thing was entirely Percy’s fault. He deserved all the blame from others.

It started when he shouted out loud that it’s time for giving the birthday boy presents. Ignoring all the questioning looks and disapproving mumbles that they shouldn’t do that when they’re still inside a bar, he took out a small box – wrapped by blue paper, of course – and gave it to Jason.

The blond accepted it with a genuine smile, and everyone sighed before following Percy’s action. So far, everything’s still good. But when Piper stepped up and pushed a box with white wrapping paper and pink ribbons inside Jason’s hands and gave him a kiss right at the corner of his lips with a playful wink, Percy yelled, “That’s unfair! Nobody knows that you’ll give Jason a bonus!”

“He’s my boyfriend,” the Cherokee girl looked at Percy, mildly confused and slightly irritated at the same time. “What’s your problem?”

“We should make it equal!” Percy shouted back at her, and before anyone could ask _what the hell does that even mean_ , he grabbed Jason’s collar and kissed him. Hard.

Jason wasn’t the only one stunned as a stone, but soon after he snapped out of his frozen state, the blond punched Percy in the guts and that sent him to fly across the room and collide with a small tree that was decorated with ornaments and LED bulbs. Luckily nobody got injured, but that accident made them almost get throw out of the bar and Jason refused to talk to Percy for weeks.

…

The list of that night’s disasters didn’t stop at that. Only half an hour later, Hazel got drunk and she started to give everyone a speech about how useless and unworthy they’re. She really made Percy cry and say that he didn’t deserve Annabeth or any good thing in this world, and when Leo’s going to drown himself in the sink, Frank apologized and took his girlfriend home earlier than they planned, but everyone was thankful for that.

Piper also got drunk afterward, and she started a very messy making out session with – surprisingly – Annabeth, who was turned out that she might really appreciate this as well, which was a clue to tell that she’s drunker than everyone thought. Jason just face-palmed and mumbled something about the worst birthday party ever, and Percy seemed like he just lost his mind somewhere, because normally he can’t stand Annabeth being touchy-feely with anyone else but him.

Everybody came to the silent mutual agreement that they will never talk about that. Ever.

…

“So far I think you and I are the only ones are still sober,” Reyna took a new glass of mocktail and shrugged when she looked at Nico. “Help me with getting these idiots back home later, alright?”

“Technically I’m not in the legal age to enter a bar or have some alcoholic drink so of course I’m sober,” Nico grinned at her, but both of them already knew that he’s just good at holding his drink. “I’ll help you about that for sure, don’t worry sis.”

“That’s my brother,” Reyna smiled at him, but Percy chose this moment to start making some strange noises and she sighed heavily at this. “Would you mind taking him to the restroom? I guess he’s going to throw up and we need only one more incident to get kicked out of here.”

“Sure.” Nico nodded before walking toward Percy and putting an arm around his shoulder, starting to lead him to the restroom.

…

It turned out that their list of tonight’s disasters hadn’t ended at the steamy making out session between Piper and Annabeth, because when Nico came back with a nauseated and slightly disoriented Percy, a stranger was hitting on Reyna.

“I told you that I’m not interested,” Reyna groaned exasperatedly. “Back off.”

“You just haven’t seen me in my greatest glory yet,” the man winked at her and Reyna just rolled her eyes in disdain. “Believe me, young lady, I’ll make you see heaven.”

“And I’ll make you see hell right now if you don’t shut up. Now move.” Reyna growled at him, but she already stood up to leave. Nico helped Percy to sit down to a small couch at the corner of the room before rushing toward her.

“What’s wrong, Reyna?” He asked and scrutinized the man suspiciously. “Is he bothering you?”

Reyna opened her mouth, but the man scowled at Nico and cut her off before she could speak. “That’s none of your business, kid. Go away before I get angry because you interfere the lovely and sensual conversation between me and that beautiful lady.”

“That beautiful lady just happens to be my sister so I have all the rights to get involved,” Nico glared at the man, his eyes were as cold as ice. “Don’t bother her anymore, you douchebag.”

“How old are you, kid?” The man looked at Nico and smirked mockingly. “I bet you’re not old enough to legally go to this bar. You’re just born yesterday so I advise that you should back off and let the adults handle their jobs.”

“Shut up before that newborn child breaks your face.” Nico hissed dangerously. Reyna didn’t say anything and she’s still keeping her stoic façade on her face, but if anyone squinted their eyes a little bit, they could see that she was trying to suppress a smile.

“Hah, you’re fierce, just as your sister,” the man commented, he suddenly looked amused when he grinned. “I like fierce ones. They usually play hard to get, but actually, those ones scream the loudest when I finally succeed to take their clothes off.”

Both Nico and Reyna’s eyes darkened at that, but the man seemed unnoticed so he continued, much oblivious to the dangerous glint in their eyes. “You’re surprisingly cute for a boy. It’s quite a long time since the last chance I had to play threesome. Wanna have a try, cutie and sweetie? I don’t mind your age if you promise to not call the police.”

At this point, Nico really had had enough. Before anyone could prevent him, he already lurched forward and punched the man in his face.

The raven-haired boy’s fist collided with that man’s nose by a scary but satisfying crashing noise, and the man fell backward on the hard, cold marble floor. His head hit the back of a chair when he fell, and he let out a painful scream when bringing up his hands to cover his bleeding nose.

Anger flashed in the man’s eyes like a mad fire and he shakily stood up, threw a fist at Nico. But he quickly dodged it and gave him one punch in the guts, and added one more to his chest. The man was surprisingly stubborn when he continuously stood up after each time he got a hit and tried to counter-attack the boy, but Nico didn’t end up receiving any injury at all.

Nobody dared to interrupt their fight, but some other party-goers yelled and ran away so the manager made his presence after ten minutes, politely but sternly asked them to get out of the bar. The man tried his last attempt to give Nico a punch but his friend finally appeared and dragged him away.

“About the damn time,” Jason sighed when they’re outside the bar, drunken and tired as hell. “I really, really need to crash on my bed right now.”

“Admit it… hic…” Percy was half-conscious, leaning onto Jason’s arm that helped to support his weight. “I gave you… hic… the greatest… hic… birthday party… ever!!”

“If “greatest” in your dictionary equal to “most scandalous” so yeah, you gave me just that,” Jason scowled at his friend before sighing loudly. “Let’s head back home. I’m exhausted.”

Reyna nodded at him and they started to get each of their friends inside the car. Nico helped as well, but he grimaced slightly when his knuckles brushed with the cold metal of the car’s door, and Reyna immediately noticed that. She grabbed his wrist and examined the red-tinted skin, then gave him a super unsatisfied look.

“Does it hurt?”

“They’re just some tiny bruises and they’ll disappear tomorrow,” Nico bit his bottom lip, chewing it slightly. “You don’t need to worry, Reyna.”

“I could’ve handled that myself, Nico. You injured yourself again.” She crossed her arms and sighed at him.

“I know you could, but that didn’t mean I can stand aside and let that disgusting man harass you,” he scowled and shook his head in disdain. “He even had the audacity to say such disturbing thing to both you and me. He deserves to have someone beat his sorry ass up. And before you could give me a lecture, I want to say that we should get back to our apartment first before Jason could die from exhaustion.”

Reyna stared at him, but Nico refused to look away from her deadly glare. Finally, she grunted an angry response before opening the door of the driver seat. “I’ll drive.”

Both Jason and Nico didn’t argue with her on that and their trip back home was quiet with a vaguely awkward atmosphere. It’s great that almost everyone’s asleep now so they didn’t need to endure that altogether.

…

After getting everyone home safely, Reyna looked at Nico with a determined expression. “You’ll come with me to my apartment and let me treat those bruises of yours, you stubborn child.”

“You won’t let me escape this without a lecture, will you?” Nico half-heartedly joked, but he sighed in defeat when Reyna glared daggers at him. “Fine, I’m sorry.”

“You’d better feel truly guilty when you say sorry,” she snorted. “Don’t say it just because you think I want to hear that.”

He didn’t reply her until they went inside her apartment and she started to open the first aid kit to treat his wound.

“I don’t understand,” Nico mumbled. “That man was such a scumbag and he said horrible things to you. I just wanted to defend your honor and make him shut up. Why are you still angry at me?”

“You made me miss my chance to directly punch him in the guts,” she retorted. “But that’s hardly the point. I’m angry because I don’t want to see you get injured. Especially for me, because it’s not worth it. I could always defend and protect myself.”

“Now it’s making less sense!” Nico growled. “You’re my sister, you’re always worth it! I could do anything for you, even giving up my life, not just beating some douchebag up!”

“I don’t want you to get injured just because of something like that,” she sighed when putting on a small bandage to cover one scratch. “And stop saying nonsense stuff. You’re not going to give up your life for anyone or anything.”

“If that “anyone” is you, I’m more than willing to,” Nico looked at her with those lost puppy eyes, he looked genuinely sad and hurt. “Why don’t you understand this? You’re my sister, and nobody could mess with my sisters and get away easily.”

Reyna groaned in exasperation. Nico was staring at her with his big warm chocolate brown eyes and that’s cheating, that’s so unfair because she could never stay mad at him with those eyes, and he already knew it.

“Fine!” She snorted. “I can’t be angry at you if you continue to look at me like this, you cheeky little smartass!”

“Glad to know that my puppy eyes are still working,” Nico grinned at her, clearly not feeling guilty at all with his small trick. “So we’re good now, aren’t we?”

“I won’t forgive you that easily,” Reyna scowled at him sternly. “But yeah, we’re good, if you promise you won’t do something utterly stupid like that in the future.”

“I have all the rights to get involved when my sisters are in trouble,” Nico mumbled softly. “I’ll try to not make you see the injuries next time then.”

“That’s not the promise I want to hear!” Reyna breathed out in annoyance. “I’m so done with this! We’ll have that conversation later when I’m not having a goddamn headache and you’re not frustratingly stubborn like that!”

“If you insist,” Nico shrugged. “I guess we don’t really have many things to say now, so I think we should go to bed. You should sleep first, I could make the guest room myself, or I can use the couch.”

“No, let me make the spare bed for you,” Reyna stood up and sighed when she reached out one arm to ruffle the boy’s hair. “I’ll deny I say that, but thank you for caring.”

“Always my pleasure,” Nico beamed at this and he didn’t comment anything about the faintest trace of blush just appeared on her face, and Reyna was glad for this. “You know how much I love you, Reyna.”

“I love you too.” She replied him with a small smile was dancing on her lips, and Nico just knew they would be fine, and even if she’ll give him an earful tomorrow, he would still gladly accept that.

…


	3. Let’s meet at the witch assembly (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna is a witch, and one day she decides to adopt an orphan child and raise him. She could swear it’s not because she’s affected by the latest trend in her region, and the boy’s dark and hypnotizing eyes have done nothing to her at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the idea for this fiction when I was searching for a tag on Pinterest and Google. It started from Japan and quickly became a trend. If you’re curious, you could do the search yourself with those tags:
> 
> #魔女集会で会いましょう
> 
> #LetsMeetAtTheWitchAssembly

##  _**3, Let’s meet at the witch assembly.** _

 

_**Reyna is a witch, and one day she decides to adopt an orphan child and raise him. She could swear it’s not because she’s affected by the latest trend in her region, and the boy’s dark and hypnotizing eyes have done nothing to her at all.** _

…

Normally, Reyna didn’t care much about what her friends were up to.

To be honest, they’re not exactly “friends”, they just happened to be witches and warlocks in the same region, and one day one of them decided that they should gather once or twice in a year and get to know the others. Reyna wasn’t against that idea, but she’s not the most enthusiastic about it either. She usually kept quiet and only answered questions when some asked her, but she didn’t walk around and try to talk to other people. Because of that, some witches said she’s mysterious and quite dangerous, some others said she’s just socially awkward.

But as we already knew, Reyna couldn’t care less.

…

Today was another gathering party. Reyna came, mostly because one of a few witches that tried so hard to be considered as her friends, Piper, convinced her to tag along. Reyna just took a drink and kept quiet during the whole afternoon as usual, before another witch named Annabeth appeared with a smaller boy. He had black hair and sea green eyes, and Reyna could tell it was pure curiosity that was shining in those eyes when he looked around and smiled excitedly.

Piper sighed dreamily, “Annabeth joined the trend. Even a serious and discipline witch as her couldn’t reject that trend. I think I should start to look for some cute boys right after the end of this gathering.”

Reyna didn’t really understand what Piper just said, but she opted not to ask. Fortunately (or not, she couldn’t decide), a warlock moved closer to the two girls with a mischievous grin dancing on his lips, “How are you doin’, beautiful ladies?”

“I’m good.” Reyna nodded at him when Piper smiled widely and gave the boy a hug.

“Long time no see, Mitchell! Did you see Annabeth with that little boy? She joined the trend!”

“Aww, that sounds cute, I must take a look later,” Mitchell looked quite surprised at first, but then he grinned. “Talking about that, what do you think about that trend, Reyna?”

“I don’t even know what that is,” the dark-haired witch shrugged and took a sip from her drink. Hmm, it was good. She thought for a brief moment that should she find the bartender and ask for the recipe or not.

“You don’t know?!” Both Piper and Mitchell exclaimed. Mitchell was just surprised, but Reyna didn’t understand why Piper looked mildly offended. She didn’t think she had done anything to upset her.

“How could you literally live at the center of that region and still so unaware of that trend?” the Cherokee girl pursed her bottom lip at her, her perfect eyebrows were forming a frown. “Oh dear, I can’t believe you.”

“I suppose the trend you’re talking about has something to do with small children?” Reyna blinked, but her calm façade was still unaffected.

Piper face-palmed at that and gestured toward Mitchell as _“You go, help me explain it.”_.

“You’re right,” Mitchell nodded and took a glass for himself. “I don’t know when it started, but it got popular pretty quickly. To put it simply, us witches and warlocks find a child and raise him or her with us. The kid could be literally anyone we want: an orphan, an abandoned child, an abused one… that’s the usual cases and I personally think those children are small and vulnerable, so that’s why we pity them.”

“But I heard that some witches kidnapped a noble kid or twins as well,” Piper looked thoughtful for a moment. “I won’t comment anything about the morality in these actions, but I think it’s pretty a personal decision and I’m nobody to judge.”

“Hmm, I see.” Reyna put down her empty glass, but she didn’t reply more. In the cases of orphans or abused children, she thought it was good to rescue them, but the whole process of raising a kid sounded complicated and maybe stressful. And Reyna didn’t like trouble.

“If you’re interested, you should look for more information and try to find one,” Mitchell winked at her. “Actually I think it’s quite fun. My friend Lou Ellen talks a lot about the boy she just adopted named Cecil, and even though none of us was a parent before, being a witch or a warlock makes us have certain advantages to be a good guardian.”

“It sounds so good, having a kid that only looks at you and admires you since they’re still so young and naïve!” Piper was grinning widely at this moment. “And that kind of child – guardian relationship has many potential developments in the future. You could still keep it as a parental bond, or you might change it into a romantic one. Or even switching the roles and becoming the little sister in that relationship doesn’t seem bad at all.”

Reyna suppressed a sigh at the blinding smiles of her friends. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

…

Reyna didn’t really have much time to think about it.

She left the party early when it started to get crowded and too noisy. Flying back to her place was quite tempting, but she opted to walk eventually because the atmosphere in the forest this season was nice. She liked the scent of wildflowers mixed with sunshine and the smell of earth after rain. It was relaxing and comforting, and she always appreciated a walk in nature once in a while.

There’re chances that she might run into some wild animals, though. They’re not dangerous for her, as a witch with great abilities to control magic, she had some certain advantages in dealing with animals. Normally, Reyna didn’t like to hurt them, so she usually chose to avoid fighting and tried to not provoke any violent one to attack her. In some rare circumstances when she’s particularly in a good mood, she even used her magic to create food for a hungry wolf or spent a moment to pamper a friendly deer. Reyna wasn’t totally fond of animals or other living creatures, but she didn’t hate any of them either.

Anyway, animals weren’t a big trouble as hunters. Reyna disliked hunters because those humans arrogantly invaded the old forest with deadly guns or bows with poisonous arrows in their hands, and a greedy instinct to take away anything they could even though none of those belonged to them. They dug deep holes under the ground and covered them with leaves, tree branches and dirt, putting traps underneath that and waiting for some poor wandering creatures to fall into. Reyna rescued some animals four or five times before, and she clearly didn’t– …

**_Thump._ **

The dark-haired witch blinked and let out a sigh. Speak of the devil, really? Right at the moment she thought about hunters’ traps, and no doubt that something just fell into one of them.

Reyna straightened her back and let her guard up, carefully searching for any hidden danger. She didn’t hear footsteps before, so whatever the creature was, it must be a small one with really quiet nature. And if that’s a trap set by a hunter, that human wasn’t anywhere nearby either. The witch thought for a moment then decided that she’ll rescue that poor animal as she did in the past. If she’s quick enough, she might get it out and disappear without anyone noticed.

Reyna didn’t have any trouble locating the trap, it’s only about 120 feet from her current spot. She walked in that direction, tried not to put her feet on any crunchy branch. A little magic was used to clean up the surrounding area so she could have a better access to the small creature inside the trap.

It turned out that the little thing wasn’t an animal, though.

Reyna froze on her spot when she looked down and a pair of obsidian eyes stared back at her. It was a child, probably only six or seven years old, with a slightly paler than normal olive complexion, plump cheeks, short and fluffy-looking black hair. He was dressing in a white T-shirt – but now it’s dirty with all the soil and mud that he must get on his body when he fell, with black knee-length shorts. He looked naïve and harmless, but there’s something inside his eyes indicating a wild, unpredictable sort of danger.

Reyna just stared at him, wasn’t entirely sure what should she do. There was no deadly trap under the hole, and the boy seemed uninjured, so she thought even if she left him there, he might not be in much danger – after all, these hunters can’t be rotten enough to actually treat a kid as one of their preys. But if other animals found him first, hm…

“Miss, could you pick me up, please?”

The childish voice snapped Reyna out of her train of thoughts. She blinked at the boy, and that kid just smiled at her while holding both his small arms up, waiting for her to make a move. Reyna slightly frowned but decided to do as his request. He did ask her politely, and he’s just a small kid. Nothing wrong could happen, right?

Except the fact that when she finally managed to get the kid out of the trap, Reyna immediately wrinkled her nose. It’s not that the smell of dirt and some filthy mud that made her feel uncomfortable, but rather the scent of hunters was reeking of from the boy. This kid couldn’t be a hunter _(or actually, not yet?)_ , but he must have some close relations with them.

“Thank you, pretty sister.”

The kid chirped, and he sounded so naïve and sincere with that soft, slightly high-pitched voice. Reyna just wordlessly stared at him, and the boy blinked but didn’t avoid the eye-contact. That little boy possessed such unique eyes: they’re big and almond shaped, with the darkest shade of deep chocolate brown that she’s ever seen, tinted with flickers of gold. They looked so innocent but so mysterious at the same time, and they were hypnotizing. For a second, the witch thought she just momentarily got lost in those eyes. The boy didn’t even blink again, and the way he looked straight into the girl’s eyes as if he only saw her at this moment. There’s no danger or fear inside those dark irises, just pure curiosity.

_“It sounds so good, having a kid that only looks at you and admires you since they’re still so young and naïve!”_

Piper’s words suddenly echoed inside Reyna’s mind, and she hastily broke their eye-contact. No, they couldn’t affect her right now. Reyna said that she needed time to think about that particular issue carefully and thoroughly, and she meant it. She didn’t even care enough to realize the trend was going on in this region, so it’s easy to understand she just uttered her words to stop Piper and Mitchell from bothering her.

“Why are you here, kid?” She asked, tried to sound calm and emotionless. “It’s dangerous to wandering alone inside an old forest, especially for such a small child like you.”

“You was wandering alone too,” the kid pouted, still staring at her with those captivating eyes. “And I ran away, obviously.”

No, nothing’s obvious for Reyna at this rate. She didn’t expect that answer from the boy at all. “I’m an adult, and you’re a little boy. That’s a big difference. And you’re still too young to start being a rebellious child.”

She wondered if the small boy could understand the word “rebellious” or not.

“I’m not trying to be disobedient,” the child shook his head, looking down for a moment. “I have reasons to run away.”

So he did understand, huh? For a kid at such young age could use a synonym for a hard word to answer a question, he must be pretty intelligent. Reyna found herself was smiling unintentionally, “You do?”

“All the members of my family are hunters, but I don’t like how they go out and hurt other creatures, bringing back injured animals every week and selling them after that,” the boy raised his head up to look at Reyna, bitting his bottom lip. “My father told me I’ll be a hunter when I grow up and that’s the only choice for me, but I don’t want to walk on that way.”

Reyna observed the kid with wonder, he had a strong, determined and independent mindset, but judging on how he reacted when his father forced him to do something he didn’t like, he’s sure as stubborn as a mule.

“I get it, but what will you do now, kiddo?” Reyna asked, half amused and half concerned. “You’re smart, but you’re still too young to live on your own.”

“You can take me in,” the boy smiled at Reyna as if he’s just suggesting her trying a new flavour of ice cream or having a walk in the forest. “Teach me, and raise me as your brother if you could, please. You’re a witch, right? I saw the way you used magic to clean up the dirt and leaves around me when I was under that hole.”

Reyna stared at the little boy, didn’t truly believe her ears at this moment. She didn’t hear what she thought he just said, did she?

“Do you know what did you just say, kid?”

“I have a name, it’s Nico,” the boy pouted at her. “Isn’t there a rising trend in this region? I overheard something like that before I ran away and ended up in this hole. And I think you could take me in. You do not have any other child with you now, do you? I’ll behave, I promise.”

Reyna shook her head, sighing heavily. “That’s not the point, kid–”

 _“Nico.”_ The little boy cut her off, and Reyna resisted the urge to smack her forehead.

“Okay, Nico,” she nodded instead. “You’re not an orphan, or an abused child or anyone that needs to be rescued. You have a family, and I think they care about you, Nico. I don’t want to take you away from them. And I’m not really fond of children either.”

“You don’t take me away from anyone, it’s my choice to leave them in the first place,” Nico took her wrist with both his small hands, looking at her pleadingly. “And I was an orphan before that hunter family adopted me. They’re not my biological parents, after all. And they didn’t abuse me, but I got hit when I didn’t obey their commands. I didn’t run away just because I don’t want to grow up being a hunter. Are those reasons good enough to convince you to accept me?”

The kid was clinging to her arm like a small stray cat, and even though Reyna was having a heated argument inside her mind, all the protests vanished at the moment Nico raised his head up and looked straight into her eyes again, with those big hypnotizing brownish black eyes. _“Please?”_

Reyna sighed in defeat. “Alright, I’ll adopt you, Nico.”

The blinding angelic smile Nico gave her assured Reyna that maybe she did make the right decision.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I think this one has some potential to have another part, but I don't really have any particular idea here so if you want a second part or you have something in your mind to share, I'm glad to know your opinions!


	4. Shall we adopt this dog?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna already had a dog called Aurum. He’s a golden retriever and a good boy, but Nico always said that he felt they’re still missing something. One day he called her to the shelter that they volunteered to work here in their free time together and met her with a white samoyed in his arms with that puppy eyes on his face “Can we adopt this one, Reyna?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short drabble which is filled with meaningless fluff. Sue me.

##  _**4, Shall we adopt this dog?** _

_**Reyna already had a dog called Aurum. He’s a golden retriever and a good boy, but Nico always said that he felt they’re still missing something. One day he called her to the shelter that they volunteered to work here in their free time together and met her with a white samoyed in his arms with that puppy eyes on his face “Can we adopt this one, Reyna?”** _

…

Reyna volunteered at a shelter and she used some of her free time to take care of rescued and abandoned animals. The shelter was full of stray cats and dogs, with some other animals like turtles and birds. She didn’t care much about adopting one of them even though she really liked them because she already had a golden retriever called Aurum. He’s a rescued dog too, she took him ten months ago and he’s a well-behaved boy. She loved him so much, even though sometimes he’s still skittish around others, especially strangers or someone suspicious.

“But he loves me,” Nico once told her when he was playing with Aurum. They shared the same apartment to save some money and Nico volunteered at that aforementioned shelter too so when she adopted the golden retriever, he was the first one knew and supported her. “And it’s so nice to raise a good dog like him.”

“He’s our dog, of course he loves you,” Reyna shrugged nonchalantly. She couldn’t explain the affection that Aurum had toward the black-haired boy, but she guessed that had something to do with the fact she gave him a strict, well-balanced diet to keep him in good health when Nico just fed him anything he wanted. “And you need to stop spoiling him. Don’t think I know nothing about any unhealthy stuff that you give him every time I’m not around.”

“Don’t you think he’s a little bit lonely here whenever we both go out for classes and work?” Nico dodged her question by another one, his normal tactic whenever he didn’t want to give others a straight answer.

Reyna snorted slightly, her right hand moved to tangle in his hair, ruffling the soft curls. “What do you mean by that?”

“Have you ever considered adopting another one? Get Aurum at least one friend, dogs are like human, they need to have companions.” Nico let her play with his hair, closing his eyes in a satisfying expression when he scratched the back of the golden retriever’s ears.

Reyna watched how his long, elegant fingers moving in a lazy but captivating way, wondering why did she indulge that boy so much. “I haven’t. Is it really necessary?”

“I guess it is,” Nico shrugged, opening his eyes and hugging Aurum. “Do you think so, boy?”

Aurum barked lightly at him in a happy manner, like the dog actually understood what did he say. Nico laughed at that, a heartfully laugh that lightened his entire face with an angelic, breath-taking aura. Whoever looked at that smile could never tell the boy had a tragic past and he didn’t let anyone get close to him and tear down his protective walls around his heart just two years ago. Reyna was one of those few people that he trusted so he can laugh that genuinely around them, and she appreciated every moment like that.

“We’ll talk about that later.” She decided after ten seconds, and Nico nodded at that. Reyna hummed in agreement and continue to play with his hair. Getting Aurum another friend, huh? She guessed that she could consider that idea carefully before making any decision.

…

Nico did the job of finding a new adoption for her before she could actually look at all the animals the shelter had and choose one to take home with her.

Reyna would never forget the moment Nico was holding a white samoyed in his arms and looking at her with the similar pleading puppy eyes like the little guy he was hugging. “Can we adopt this one, Reyna?”

The Puerto Rican girl blinked, didn’t know what to say. A part of her wanted to take out her phone and capture that rare moment, another part wanted to scowl at him for doing something without asking her first, and a different part wanted to hug both him and the samoyed because dear gods, they’re so adorable and the sight did strange thing to her heart, made she want to shower them with endearment and fondness.

“Reyna?” Nico asked hopefully and his eyes were even bigger than normal, with that sort of innocent and genuine plead in his doe eyes, the brownish-black irises were shining and sparkling with hope. She sighed, how can she have the heart to say no to him when he’s looking at her like that? The cheeky little kid already won this from the beginning.

“Sure, if you insist.”

“I love you, Reyna!” Nico exclaimed cheerfully and smiled at her. Reyna sighed again and opened her arms toward him.

“Can I hold him?”

“Sure,” Nico gave the small pup to her and Reyna closed her arms, feeling the warmness radiated from the small body and a pleasant, content feeling was filled inside her. “He likes you, I can tell. This one is not the most well-behaved, he barks loudly whenever someone he doesn’t like come close to him. But he’s so quiet with us so I guess I did the right choice.”

“Does he have a name?” Reyna asked and looked straight into the samoyed eyes. The white ball of fur stared back at her and licked her face in a playful manner.

“Not yet,” Nico replied, reaching his hand to pet the dog. “You can name him, I guess he doesn’t mind.”

“You dork,” Reyna laughed at that comment, thinking for a moment. “He’s white, and my other dog named Aurum so I guess Argentum is a perfect name for that cute furball.”

“Hear that, Argentum? You’re our little guy now, boy,” Nico smiled at the samoyed. “Welcome to the family.”

Reyna’s heart melted at that when she realized Nico referred to her as a part of his family. Well, she’ll sure do her best to keep it that way, having a family with Nico di Angelo and two cute dogs they shared together was a very nice experience in her life that she valued every moment with them by her whole heart.

…


	5. They think we’re a couple (2)

##  _**5, They think we’re a couple (2)** _

…

Percy didn’t know what was Jason’s plan to make the freshman open up to him, but apparently, it worked quite well. It’s only three days after their lunchtime conversation, but when he sat down at his usual table, his eyes spotted Jason was friendly chatting with the black-haired kid while walking to his direction with trays of food on their hands.

“Perce, could we sit here?” Jason asked, but he already sat down and put his tray on the table. Percy observed the food for a moment, shaking his head when he saw no trace of blue.

“You already did,” he shrugged and looked at the freshman. “Do you want to sit here too,… hm, what’s your name?”

“I’m Nico,” the boy nodded and sat next to Jason, even though he was standing closer to Percy a second before. “Nico di Angelo. Just call me Nico if you want.”

“No blue either,” Percy pointed at Nico’s tray, turning his head toward Jason and giving the blond a disapproving look. “You and your friend both have no taste.”

“You’re the one whose all the dead taste buds,” Jason retorted while unwrapping his tuna sandwich. “You can eat your burned brownies. Nobody can put that thing inside their mouth except you.”

Nico made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed laugh, tearing the bag contained his fresh apple. He had long and delicate fingers, Percy noted. Annabeth had similar kind of fingers, and she drew very good – her blueprints were impressing and mesmerizing to see and observe. He wondered if that boy had any artistic talent.

“Do you want to hear some surprising news?” Jason teased, elbowing Percy slightly. The black-haired boy frowned.

“Sure, ‘sup?”

“Apparently, Nico shares some classes with us,” Jason smirked. “But we haven’t noticed him before because he usually sits at the backseats and he’s too quiet.”

“Really?” One of Percy’s eyebrows shot up. “But I thought he’s a freshman?”

“I am,” Nico nodded. “But I did the entrance exam, and the result was good, so the professors think I’m smart enough to catch up with the advanced materials and they let me assign to their classes.”

Now the sea green-eyed boy actually thought he was looking at a male, raven-haired version of Annabeth. “So which ones?”

“Advanced Calculus is one of them,” the youngest boy shrugged. “The class that we have this afternoon.”

“… Crap, now I remember I haven’t done the homework!” Percy suddenly realized what did he forget to do last week. “Damn! I don’t even understand what did the lecturer say!”

“Poor you,” Jason smirked at him, didn’t seem like he’s sympathized with Percy at all. “Too bad I can’t help you, I barely kept myself awake last week, and it doesn’t look like I could just read the textbook and figure things out.”

“… Really?” Nico looked at them, amusement was sparkling in his dark obsidian eyes, “It’s not that hard, I didn’t listen to the lecture either, but I still found those problems were pretty easy.”

Both Jason and Percy wordlessly stared at him. Nico shifted uncomfortably on his seat while putting down his fork, looking slightly nervous. “… What’s wrong?”

“Easy?” Jason repeated, then he beamed. “You do think so? If that’s true, can you help us to understand it?”

“… Err…” Nico looked at the blond, then turned his head at Percy, who both looked strangely hopeful and were staring at him like two lost puppies waiting for someone to pick them up, “I’m not sure, I haven’t taught anyone Calculus before.”

“So we can be your first students,” Jason grinned. “Relax, Nico, it’s just like friends help each other with their problems. We won’t bother you with anything that can make you feel uncomfortable, and our relationship is strictly professional if you want.”

Percy nodded frantically at that, he didn’t want to ask Annabeth to tutor him for another year, she already had a lot of work this semester, and he didn’t want to look like an idiot, so of course, he supported Jason’s idea.

“… Okay, if you insist,” finally, Nico sighed when he can’t resist their puppy eyes, “But I can’t guarantee any result, you must do the work on your own.”

“Deal,” Jason nodded, looking so delightful with that. “When will we start?”

“Seeing that both of you’re having trouble understanding the last week’s material, I guess we could use one hour between the end of lunchtime and the beginning of Calculus class to review some problems if you agree.” Nico shrugged, picking up his fork again.

“Great!” Percy exclaimed and smiled widely when Jason high-fived with him. “Do you have any place in mind, Jason?”

“I don’t know, haven’t thought about it,” Jason sheepishly glanced at his friend. “The coffee shop near the campus is good, how about that?”

“Or we could simply use the Student Council Meeting Room – nobody needs it at noon after all,” Nico chimed in, “I could text Reyna and ask her if we could use that room or not. I guess it’s okay with her if it’s me asking though, so don’t worry.”

Percy’s head snapped at that. “Reyna? As in Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, the vice president of our Students’ Association?”

“You know her?” Nico blinked at him, taking out his phone and starting to type something.

“Of course, nobody doesn’t know her in this college,” Percy shrugged. “She’s the fairest, but also the strictest member of our SA. Confident, disciplined, dominating, and naturally intimidating are our words to describe her.”

After Percy finished his sentence, Nico was looking at him with a strange expression that he didn’t know how should he understand it. And after two seconds, he unexpectedly laughed out loud, like Percy just said something that’s so hilarious.

“Hey!” He protested, feeling mildly confused and annoyed. “I’m not joking! I don’t even think she’ll let anyone use the student council’s properties for other purposes, so I don’t think she’ll agree with your request.”

Nico’s phone buzzed at that, and he looked at the screen, smiling mischievously. “But her text said _“Ok, go ahead.”_ right here.”

Jason laughed, and Percy’s eyes nearly budged out of its sockets. “No way!”

Nico showed him the conversation between him and Reyna, and it’s right. The strict girl people knew even sent a wink after her text, an emoji that they never thought she could use to chat with other people.

“I told you, it’s alright, she doesn’t mind me asking,” Nico grinned, taking his phone away. “Now let’s finish our lunch, we don’t have much time left.”

Jason nodded and continued his meal, while Percy was staring at his blue food, it suddenly tasted like confusion and suspicion, and it didn’t look too delicious anymore.

…

Nico led the way to the room when two older boys walked after him. Percy whispered to Jason. “Do you think Nico’s relationship with Reyna is quite… strange? I don’t even know they knew each other, but base on the texts, they’re even pretty close.”

“Actually she’s not that strict and hard to decipher,” Jason mumbled, looking slightly nervous. “Even though I don’t really want to get close to her, for various reasons.”

“You’re a member of the Student Association so I don’t think you can avoid meeting her forever.”

“We dated for a while, but it turned out that our romantic relationship didn’t work, and we agreed to remain as friends,” Jason explained. “But she is… you know, we don’t hold grudges at each other, but sometimes it’s still hard to talk to her normally. To be honest, I know Nico way before he’s accepted in this school, through Reyna, but we didn’t talk back then. I only saw him at her place twice before, and you’re right, they’re pretty close.”

“You dated her?” Percy seemed to notice only one information in Jason’s rambling. The blond face-palmed at his friend.

“Really? I said a lot of things, and you only hear that? What’s wrong with that though? I already told you, our relationship didn’t work. I don’t like her in a romantic way, and she just had a crush on me but then it’s gone too.”

“I don’t even think she’s interested in boys, or people in general,” Percy grimaced. “It sounds different in my mind though. I mean, she holds herself like a queen, and she seems like she can rule a reign without a king.”

“Totally agree,” Jason whispered back when Nico turned his head at them and scrutinized them suspiciously. Jason smiled at him, and Nico only scowled, but he opted to not say anything when he knocked on the door.

Only two seconds later, it opened, and a girl with lustrous black hair that was made into a braid, piercing black eyes with an emotionless expression on her face was in front of them. Percy gulped slightly, there were reasons they said Reyna’s naturally intimidating. She was wearing a purple T-shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans with sneakers, holding a stack of papers in one of her arms, but a confident, cold and noble aura still pervaded from her in the way she looked at them and curtly nodded, before turning all her attention at the youngest boy and then she smiled. “Nice to see you, Nico.”

“Hi, Reyna,” Nico stepped forward and kissed Reyna on her cheek, totally unaware of Jason and Percy’s stunned expression. “You look great as usual. Thanks for letting us use the room, I appreciate it.”

“Come in, there are only me and Frank, but he’ll leave soon after we finish organizing those documents.” Reyna waved her free hand, gesturing for them to walk in and closing the door after that. A tall Asian boy was standing in front of a bookshelf with another stack of documents in his right arm, and he smiled at them warmly.

“Hi, Nico, Jason, and Percy.”

They greeted him back before looking around to find a suitable spot. Reyna patted Nico’s shoulder and pointed at a corner, where she or someone else already placed a square table with four chairs and a small vase of roses for decoration purpose. “I prepare for you, feel free to ask me if you need anything else.”

“Thanks,” Nico grinned at her and Reyna nodded back at him, still wearing a smile on her face. It’s quite unusual for both Percy and Jason to see her like that. For Percy, it’s because he had never seen the vice president of their SA smiled that relaxing and warm before. For Jason, he’s feeling confused because in all those months they dated, Reyna didn’t smile like that at him even just once, but now she’s having that expression since the moment she saw the youngest boy. “You’re so considerate. But why four chairs? I already told you there are only 3 people. Or… do you need some math tutoring too?”

Percy nearly gasped dramatically at it, he didn’t hear it wrong, did he? Nico di Angelo just… teased Reyna?

Jason looked like he didn’t know what to say, and he didn’t want to be in the scene at this moment either.

“Hmm,” Reyna just observed Nico for a moment, and any other normal person could feel scared and intimidated by her cold, calculating gaze, but for his credit, Nico seemed totally unaffected. “Don’t be too cocky just because you’re a smartass, di Angelo.”

“Thanks, I know it,” Nico even had the audacity to smile widely at Reyna. “Alright, enough chatting, I don’t want to waste your time anymore. You should come back to your work, Reyna, and I need to start my work too.”

“Sure.” Reyna nodded and walked away, didn’t look angry even just a little bit.

“What are you two staring at?” Nico’s velvety voice snapped both Jason and Percy back to reality, “Take out your books, we should start now, we only have 45 minutes left.”

The youngest boy took out a chair and sat down, then opened his bag to take a pen and some blank papers. The two others looked at each other before sitting down next to him and grabbing their notebooks. Percy had to admit that he didn’t understand what did he scribble in his note when Jason found out even if he was wide awake in the class last week, he still couldn’t be able to understand the material either.

Nico sighed slightly at their lost expression and started to teach them from the basic rules. Even though he claimed that he’d never taught anyone before, the smallest boy was surprisingly a good teacher: he explained everything quickly but thoroughly, and the way he solved examples and pointed out the main idea of each problem made them easy to understand. The greatest thing about his tutoring session was it’s not boring even just a little bit!

“I have never thought I could find Ad Calculus interesting before, but I get the idea why someone could say that now,” Jason breathed out in awe when he finally understood even the hardest example in the textbook, and all he needed was thirty minutes studying with Nico! It’s even more effective than a full 3-hour class with his lecturer – no offense to the man, but the blond just can’t concentrate in his tedious class. “It’s amazing how you could explain all those things to us just one time, and we still understand, Nico!”

“You solved all the problems yourselves, I just gave you one or two clues when you needed that,” Nico shook his head, “You’re pretty good yourselves before, it’s not because of me.”

“Oh c’mon, if it’s not because of you, we wouldn’t have a chance to get the hang of these things, let alone finding it easy enough to understand!” Percy grinned victoriously. “You’re really a good teacher, Nico! And the fact that you’re younger than me 2 years makes me feel pretty bad about myself.”

“Actually I think I’m younger than you almost 4 years, not 2,” the raven-haired boy blinked innocently, but both the others swore they could see a glint of mischievousness in his eyes. “I skipped a year in elementary school, and another year in secondary, and even though I’m a freshman, I’m learning with both sophomores and juniors too.”

“Don’t make me feel worse!” Percy loudly protested, and Jason laughed at that when Nico just smirked at the sea green-eyed boy.

“Anyway, we’re done sooner than we expected, and we still have ten more minutes,” Jason checked his phone. “Wanna grab some coffee or drink before class? I’ll pay this time for you, Nico, you could consider it as a thank-you gift for tutoring me.”

“Actually you can save that for another time,” another voice joined their conversation and both the older boys startled when Reyna put down a tray on their table. “I already made coffee for all of you. Percy, I don’t know how would you like your coffee, so this is an expresso, you can add sugar and milk as you like. Jason, I remember that you like cappuccino with extra milk foam, right?”

“Thank you, Reyna, that’s so thoughtful of you.” Jason smiled genuinely at her. Even though they’re not a couple anymore, she didn’t treat him any different, and she’s still that considerate girl he once liked.

Percy mumbled a soft “Thanks.” before taking his cup and adding two cubes of sugar.

“How about me, Reyna?” Nico pouted slightly, and the girl chuckled when sitting down on the fourth chair, handing him a bigger cup. “A decaf.”

“But I want real coffee!” Nico protested, sounding strangely childish with his sort of baby voice. “Just like the ones you made for those two!”

“Please, you’re already a nocturnal animal, and I don’t want to turn you into an insomniac by letting caffeine fill your system at this time.”

“It’s just the beginning of the afternoon, I would be fine! Let me drink real coffee, please ~” The tiny Italian tried to convince the girl, but she looked totally calm and unaffected, even though he’s really adorable and irresistible with that face he was making.

“I said no, and that’s the final decision,” Reyna shook her head, her voice was soft but determined and commanding. “Drink your coffee quick before you’re late for your class, Nico.”

“Ugh, sometimes I really hate you,” Nico scrunched his nose and took a sip from his cup, opening his bag to put his pen back. “Jason, Percy, we need to go.”

“Sure, let me collect my stuff.” Jason nodded and started to gather his notebook and pens. Percy did the same, and they’re ready to leave one minute later.

“Thank you for letting us in today, Reyna,” Jason told Reyna with the most polite voice he could manage, and the girl replied him with a small smile.

“No problem. You’re lucky that it was Nico’s request. If it was one of you two, I wouldn’t do the same.”

“That’s kind of discriminatory,” Percy shook his head, but he was laughing. “What does he have but we don’t that makes you favour him that much, may I ask?”

“Well, a normally functioned brain is one of the things,” Reyna calmly answered him, but the corner of her mouth was rising into a cheeky smirk. “You want a list from most important to least or alphabet order?”

“No thanks, I think I’m good now,” Percy’s expression got sour, and he hastily said goodbye to the girl before she could make him feel embarrassed more. “Thanks for today, Reyna. We gotta go.”

“See you later.” Nico nodded at her, grabbing his cup of decaf coffee and kissing Reyna on her left cheek before leaving with the two older boys.

…

“What’s with all those affectionate actions between you and Reyna?” Percy can’t hold back his curiosity anymore, and after just ten meters away from the meeting room, he asked Nico with genuine interest.

Before the smaller boy could answer him, Jason frowned. “I have the same question. I know you’re not fond of physical contacts, and Reyna’s not a touchy-feely person either, but you two seem to have no problem with touching each other.”

“We don’t,” Nico confirmed. “I generally dislike physical contact and Reyna will break anyone’s arm if they touch her more than necessary, but yeah, we both find touching each other is alright.”

“Since when you’re that close?” Jason questioned. “I dated her for six months, and she rarely showed that kind of affection with me. Or anyone else in her life, as far as I know.”

“Except me, apparently,” the Italian boy grinned. “I only kiss and hug Hazel, my half-sister more than Reyna, but that’s because we lived together for a long time before I moved here for college.”

“Seriously, what’s going on between you two?” Percy didn’t beat around the bush anymore. “I’m dying to know how could you get that special treatment from Reyna. She’s one of the scariest people I have ever met, her intimidating level is even higher than my girlfriend Annabeth, I have to admit that.”

“She doesn’t seem that scary to me,” Nico shrugged nonchalantly. “She’s just confident and comfortable with herself. When you get to know her, she’s pretty sensitive, and she cares a lot about people that important to her.”

“I know, Reyna’s considerate because that’s a part of her personality, not because she tries to act like that,” Jason nodded. “But I still don’t understand your relationship with her. It’s just… strange to see her like that, but I admit it’s a good kind of strange.”

“Glad to know that,” Nico smiled at him when they reached the door of the Advanced Calculus class. “It’s our room, and we’re not late. Let’s get inside.”

Both Jason and Percy noticed how Nico subtly avoided answering all the relationship-related questions they asked him, and that only made them become more curious about what’s the thing between Nico and Reyna. They had some suspicions, but none of them had enough proof or evidence to prove true.

The two older boys secretly agreed that they would have a lot of work to do if they truly want to find out the nature of Reyna and Nico’s relationship.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how some of us refer to Nico as the tiny Italian. It think it sounds adorable and I added it into my vocabulary :D
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. The Princess and her dragon (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna is a princess, she lives inside a tower, and she will kill anyone if they dare hurt her dragon, prince charming or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a prompt from **[Cheeky_Cherry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_Cherry/pseuds/Cheeky_Cherry)** , but I changed the idea a little bit and added some plots of mine. I hope you guys enjoy it!

##  _**6, The Princess and her dragon (1)** _

**_Reyna is a princess, she lives inside a tower, and she will kill anyone if they dare hurt her dragon, prince charming or not._ **

…

“So, the King said that’s the time for you to get married.” Piper casually informed, plopping down to the mattress next to Reyna. “What’s your plan, _Your Highness_?”

For her credit, Reyna didn’t bother to look up from her book. “Avoiding that?” She shrugged nonchalantly, “And I already told you, when there are only two of us, you don’t need to address me with those words or titles. That’s so annoying.”

“Still, you’re the princess,” the brown-haired girl smirked, using a finger to play with a feather braided in her hair. “And he also said he kinda wants a traditional challenge for anyone who wants to marry you. Like, defeating a fearsome dragon that keeps the princess captured, or something like that.”

“And you’re the daughter of the Grand Duke, but you always get pretty annoyed whenever I call you _Lady_ ,” Reyna snorted, turning a page over. “Whatever his plan is, I need him to stay away from my dragon.”

“I think he already asked your dragon to do the task.”

Now that got Reyna’s attention. “Sorry, what?”

“The King announces that anyone who wants to marry the princess needs to free her themselves by winning a fight with the dragon. You already live inside a tower most of the time, so now the dragon is guarding this tower, and it makes you become kinda a damsel in distress.”

“You mean he makes me look weak and ridiculous,” Reyna muttered in annoyance, putting her book aside.

“Well, half of the kingdom doesn’t think so,” the Grand Duke’s daughter rolled her eyes. “Because I saw at least five young men are on their ways to this tower to rescue you, or whatever they think when I came here, riding my horse at its fastest speed.”

“And they will challenge the dragon?” The princess’s eyes narrowed. “ _My dragon?_ ”

“I’m afraid so.”

Anyone who thought the princess was weak and needed somebody to save her really had to look at Reyna right now. She looked nothing but downright terrifying that actually sent shivers down to Piper’s spine.

“I need to talk to him.”

“Who, your father?” The Cherokee girl snorted. “I respect him as a good king, but you have to admit he’s as stubborn as a mule.”

“Well, so am I,” Reyna sighed. “And no, by ‘him’ I mean my dragon. There’s no way I let him do that senseless task and get himself injured. That’s unnecessary, I don’t want to get married that soon anyway.”

“I sincerely doubt that your dragon can get injured by those young men with their naïve hero-complex,” Piper shrugged. “You’re the only one that gets overprotective of him, anyone else in this kingdom that knows him is also very aware of his tremendous and insane powers.”

“He’s not matured enough,” the princess shook her head, standing up from her bed. “He’s still a baby dragon. A child that needs to be protected from any dangers in this world.”

“I honestly don’t think that we’re talking about the same person,” Piper giggled, waving one of her hands. “But whatever, go and talk to your dragon. I’m sure that he misses you as much as you miss him.”

…

“Nico!”

The dragon slightly raised his head up, glancing at the princess. “Reyna.” He didn’t make any effort to do anything else. Reyna crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at him.

“Turn back to your human form, it’s easier for us to talk.”

“No, it takes a lot of magic powers and I need to save them for my task.” The dragon shook his head, looking almost apologetic.

“Screw your task, who do you work for, my father or me?”

“Well, Reyna, I work for the kingdom, so it’s hard for me to choose a side,” the dragon tilted his head to the left. “And I have a vague idea about what do you want to talk to me, so I’m sorry in advance, your father commanded me to do this.”

“There’s nobody else in this area, so please change into your human form,” Reyna sighed. “I like that form better.”

“… Fine,” the dragon hesitated for one moment before nodding his head. “Even though I don’t understand your preference. Everyone loves that powerful form of me more.”

“I’m just not one of ‘everyone’, I guess.”

“Fair enough.” The dragon chuckled, a magical mist started to cover his body. After ten seconds, the huge beast disappeared, and standing in front of Reyna was a teenage boy with a small and lithe figure.

Reyna watched the transformation with genuine interest, it’s always fascinating to see Nico switching between his two main forms. Well, the boy was part of demon too, so he also had a demon form, but he refused to let anyone see that, saying it’s ugly and dangerous, so she never pushed him. “You didn’t get any taller.” She commented with a hint of tease was evident in her voice.

“Not you too!” Nico hissed, looking mildly offended. “Dragons grow up slower than a normal human, I already told you that!”

Reyna extended one arm to ruffle his black hair. Despite the rough and harsh scales covered his dragon body, in his human form the boy possessed soft hair and porcelain skin with a healthy tone of olive complexion. “You’re still a cute little kid, Nico.”

“You’re the only one in this kingdom refers to a fearsome dragon like me like that,” he muttered with a little bit of annoyance. “Everyone else is scared of me. They respect me. And you treat me as your little brother.”

“Well, indeed you are,” the princess shrugged, withdrawing her hand from the boy’s hair to take his arm. “Follow me, I’ll find somewhere else for us to talk.”

“But I have to guard the tower…” Nico trailed off uncertainly. Reyna just snorted, dragging him to go with her.

“I couldn’t care less about that.”

…

“Why did you agree with my father?” Reyna didn’t beat around the bush, she immediately asked Nico when they’re finally inside her reading room.

“I told you, I serve the kingdom, so the King’s command is one of the things I need to obey and follow.” Nico looked at anywhere but her eyes and Reyna knew the boy was afraid of making her sad. A fearsome dragon? She never thought about him like that anyway.

“Nobody forces you to serve the kingdom,” Reyna sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re glad that you choose to aid and help us, but still… I was the one who found you, and the only thing I want you to do is being an independent person – dragon or demon or whatever. I want you to have your own life, make your choices about how you want to live.”

“I want to stay by your side,” Nico blinked, looking straight into the girl’s eyes. “I made my choice, Reyna. If I don’t like you, I would never choose to stay here in your kingdom and be so close to human like that. You know, the races of my blood aren’t fond of yours anyway. If my father sees me in this form, he would certainly disown me.”

Reyna snorted at that, Nico always told her those things, which made almost no sense to her. The boy had a perfect human form – a beautiful one to be honest, but he seemed to dislike his human body, no matter what she and any other people told him that they didn’t see any different between Nico and a normal human. He thought that he looked ugly and ridiculous, another thing that Reyna couldn’t understand where did he get that thought from. Nico was powerful and terrifying in his dragon form – all the black scales with a glint of silver covered his body made him look breathtaking in a dangerous way. His human body was a small teenager, with lustrous black hair, dark chocolate brown eyes, and delicate facial features. Nobody possessed that kind of face could be considered as ugly.

“So what? If he actually disowns you, I will adopt you and give you a new family,” Reyna pulled the boy closer to her, starting to play with his hair. “And with all the time we spent together, I think I’m already your surrogate sister by now.”

“You are, but… I don’t think you truly want to,” Nico was avoiding her eyes again. Gods, sometimes that boy could be so frustratingly stubborn. “I mean, I’m a dragon, not a human.”

“So what? If that means anything, it could only be the fact that I have the most badass little brother,” Reyna grinned victoriously, watching Nico blushed a faint shade of red. Fearsome dragon? She could never think of him like that. “You can’t disagree with me on that particular issue, Nico. I have a ton of reasons to prove my point.”

“… Thank you, Reyna.” Nico muttered quietly, seeming relaxed a little bit.

“So, back to the main topic,” she continued, suppressing a sigh when the boy visibly flinched and tensed up. “What did my father tell you anyway?”

“I think you already knew,” the black-haired boy quietly replied her, his voice was barely audible. “He wants you to find a man and get married. He also wants the bravest, strongest man for you. He asked me to help him with his plan, and I couldn’t find a reason to refuse his request.”

“Nico, I love you and all, but sometimes you really drive me up a wall,” Reyna mumbled irritatedly. “And so does my father! He totally forgot the most important thing, asking for my opinion. About my own marriage! That’s so unacceptable!”

“Well…” Nico tried to reassure her, but it’s evident that he’s so clueless about what should he say. “If this can make you feel better, I could beat all the men that dare to come near this tower until you find someone that you like.”

“The offer sounds good, but I’d rather you didn’t need to do that,” Reyna clicked her tongue, seeming annoyed. “I have some plans to subtly avoid getting married that soon, but I need your help.”

“What do you need me to do for you?” Nico asked, and the princess locked her eyes at him. the black obsidian irises were filled with genuine concern, and Reyna both wanted to hug her dragon and hit his obstinate head at this moment.

“Well, an escape plan that involves a running away princess always sound fun for me,” Reyna shrugged. “Whatever, I don’t want the kingdom sees me as a damsel in distress. Like hell that I would need someone to rescue me. I’m not a prisoner or anything.”

“Do you want me to fly you to another kingdom?” Nico suggested. “I know some interesting places that I want to show you.”

“Sounds great,” Reyna admitted. “But don’t you worry about making my father angry?”

She just asked for his opinion to make sure they had the same idea about the whole situation. It’s not like Reyna’s scared of provoking her father. She’s a stubborn princess and nobody in the kingdom wasn’t aware of that simple, plain fact.

“Well, even if he’s angry at me, it’s not like he could do anything to me,” now it’s Nico’s turn to shrug nonchalantly. “I’m a frigging dragon after all. The worst he could do is throwing me out of his kingdom, and my only regret is not being able to meet you easily anymore.”

Reyna smiled brightly at that, “So let’s get ready.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an irrelevant question: How did some of you guys leave more than one kudos on a work anyway?


End file.
